ABSTRACT/SUMMARY

 

Introduction | Background: 

Disinfection and sterilization are common processes that take place in healthcare facilities. It is crucial that they are carried out accordingly to prevent hospital acquired infections and cross-contamination. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire to measure knowledge and practices of disinfection and sterilization among healthcare staffs.

 

Methods | Materials: 

Self-administered questionnaire comprising 2 domains; knowledge (15 items) and practices (15 items) was developed based on available literatures and expert opinions. The questionnaire developed was in Bahasa Melayu. Content validity was assessed by 9 experts while face validity was tested on 12 subjects. Reliability testing was conducted on 72 respondents based on sample size calculation to assess the internal consistency. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20.0

 

Results: 

The content validity index (CVI) for knowledge and practices were determined to be 0.96 and 0.92 (after deletion of 2 items) respectively, denoting good relevancy of the items. Assessment of face validity index (FVI) showed values of 0.86 for knowledge and 0.83 for practices (after removing 1 item) which indicated that the questionnaire was understood by respondents. In the reliability test, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were determined to be acceptable; 0.704 (95% CI 0.59-0.80) for knowledge (after dropping 1 item) and 0.700 (95% CI 0.59-0.79) for practices.

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Discussion|Conclusion: 

The original domains were retained in the final version of the questionnaire with 14 knowledge items and 12 practices items. It was found to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess knowledge and practices of disinfection and sterilization among healthcare staffs.